A local initiative to work on providing the right care for those struggling with mental illness took it’s first big steps recently.

The Airdrie Mental Health Task Force launched recently after the idea first came forward last year from the Thumbs Up Foundation and the Airdrie and Area Health Benefits Co-op.

A worker at the Airdrie Mental Health Clinic adds to their bulletin board

Pat Cashion is the Chair of the Task Force and explains more on the objective of the new group.

“Their two organizations would provide a little bit of funding and impetus toward examining what the current pathways are for mental health treatment in Airdrie and mental health prevention and try to attempt to make some recommendations to improve the pathways and related services.”

As the task force is still new, Cashion says they will be looking more to the community to help them move forward.

“It’s intended to be a citizen-driven initiative and in this state, we’re intent on contacting citizens and determining what questions they have, what issues they have. We’re doing a search for other localities across the country where some of this may have been worked on. We may be able to glean some ideas from them as well.”

Cashion also mentions that there are over a dozen other agencies including individual doctors and non-profit groups who have joined the task force already.

The short-term goal right now is to raise awareness of the issues surrounding mental health on top of other priorities.

“Another long-term goal is that the accessibility to services to deal with mental health challenges is not only readily available but is easy to locate and find and access and get into the system and get a fast response which is just as important with mental health as it is with a physical health system,” says Cashion.

The task force is planning to carry out different and focus groups in the city within the next couple months.

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